How do people think and talk about opportunity and inequality in the United States? We hear about these themes frequently these days, from economists, from the philanthropic community, from political pundits and among the slogans and sound bites of recent political campaigns. But what do “regular” Americans think, and what […] Read more »
The Peculiar Populism of Donald Trump
All wars have unintended consequences, including culture wars. … In an article to be published in the June issue of Perspectives on Politics, “Trump and the Xenophobic Populist Parties: The Silent Revolution in Reverse,” Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris put their case in blunt terms: “Postmaterialism,” they write, “eventually became […] Read more »
Parties of the Left, Wake Up!
Center-left parties in America and Europe are struggling. They are struggling for three reasons: First, they have failed to offer a credible response to the period of prolonged income stagnation and growing inequality; second, they have become part of the political-business-elite accommodation that the public views as corrupt; and third, […] Read more »
Americans’ Satisfaction Steady or Up, Except on Race Matters
Americans’ satisfaction with both race relations and the situation for blacks and other racial minorities in the U.S. edged down from last year, the only two areas of the 28 Gallup measured to decline significantly over this period. … The biggest positive changes over the past year were increases in […] Read more »
US Satisfaction: Quality of Life First, Race Relations Last
As the nation prepares to transition to Donald Trump’s administration, solid majorities of Americans are satisfied with the U.S. quality of life, the opportunity to get ahead by working hard and the nation’s military strength. They are much less satisfied with the state of race relations, the nation’s efforts to […] Read more »
Why the white working class votes against itself
Why did all those Economically Anxious™ Trump voters reject policies that would have helped relieve their economic anxiety? Maybe they believed any Big Government expansions would disproportionately go to the “wrong” kinds of people — that is, people unlike themselves. … We’ve known for a long time, through the work […] Read more »